Burke #4 mill

[Great white hunter]

View attachment 45705View attachment 45706I just bought a super nice bure #4 mill with the verticle head today and will be delivered to my home tomarrow night. There is only one problem with the mill. The table has a nasty spot in it where the last owner ran a endmill in the t slot. machined out a 4" long 1/8" deep grove on the corner of the t slot that you can see in picture #4. I do not want to try welding it because I am affraid of cracking the table. Does enyone know where I can get a nice used table? The grove does not affect the table because there is plenty of meat left on the t slot but I want this mill to be perfect. I am new to this site and this is my first post. I hope I did this right and this goes through. Thank you Very much.View attachment 45687View attachment 45688View attachment 45689View attachment 45690

 

[AR1911]

I had one of those for a year or two, never did find a replacement table

Nice mill. I'm pretty picky too, but I'd probably be able to live with that.

 

[Great white hunter]

Do you think if I welded that with some nickle rod I would be safe from cracking the whole table?

 

[Great white hunter]

I had one of those for a year or two, never did find a replacement table

Nice mill. I'm pretty picky too, but I'd probably be able to live with that.

Do you think I could weld that with some nickle rod without cracking the table?

 

[Old Iron]

I don't think the table will crack, But it will warp the heck out of it. Fill it with a epoxy and file stone it down.

Paul

 

[ScubaSteve]

Or you could braze it and just machine it down using the mill itself. Of course, you would be able to see the shiny bronze filler.....

 

[dfletch]

Nice looking Burke. I wouldn't touch that with any kind of welding. Just wait and watch e-bay etc. Once in a while parts for one of those becomes available. It's a shame but I just gave away one of those machines that was about 50% complete and the table was good.

 

[Great white hunter]

I got lucky. I found a complete parts machine with a good table.

 

[george wilson]

My 2nd. mill was a Burke #4,but I'd have given a lot to have the vertical head!! Mine was missing the stand,and all the drive mechanism,and the power feed. I cobbled up a drive. It was a good machine,capable of making decent cuts in steel.

The table on mine was noticeably convex,from having things tightened in the T slot over many years. I took it and the saddle to Hampton,where I wanted it machined flat. The guy at the desk,the owner,was about my age,perhaps a bit older. He said they'd just machine the top of the table,and all would be well. I tried to explain to him that the bottom and dovetail would also have to be machined. He'd have none of it. He could not understand that the table would continue to move in a circular arc. He got arrogant,telling me how much per hour he would charge to explain to customers how he was going to do a job. He wanted $130.00,plus I had to buy the cutter.

Reluctantly I left the table there,and went to another shop where I knew the owner. He exclaimed that he'd not take the job for less than $250.00(This was in the early 70's). I went back when the table was done. The guy stood back away from the desk several feet. I looked at the table,and turned it over. EVERYTHING,top and underneath had been milled!!! I was very relieved. All I said was "did you do o.k.?" He said they did. We both knew that he had made an ass of himself. Maybe next time,he would not think his customers were idiots. Later on,I made a power feed for it from a Bodine gear head motor and a worm and spur gear. Reversible,but single speed. Saved a lot of hours of patient cranking. I was very active in those days.

 

[toag]

What i know from what i read is that welding a table = bad, brazing = almost as bad. Best "solution" is to use a iron filling slow hardening epoxy. use some brake cleaner and cotton swabs to make sure the gouge is void of any oil residue, fill with epoxy mix, throw a heat lamp to keep the temp up, and file down once cured.